The garage sale has concluded. The results? Drum roll, please. ... $101.

After deducting the cost of the ad, my net is $92.

It was an awful lot of work, and this reminds me of why I don't do this more often! As I recall, I made about the same amount last time I did one.

The sale was today, 9-4, but people began showing up last night, and as early as 7:30 am today, which, frankly, I think is really rude.

Then a police officer pulled up my drive, and I had a feeling he wasn't there to buy a pillow. Unbeknownst to me, he informed me there was a road race going on and that they were directing traffic to detour down my road. He told me that people visiting my tag sale had to park at least 50 feet from the curve. (My house is located right at a very sharp curve.)

I began running up and down the driveway whenever someone pulled up to ask them to please park in the driveway, in my neighbor's driveway (I was able to get permission from their teen son, as his parents were off on vacation) or up the road a piece. I was afraid that the police might give me a ticket if I didn't do anything about it, or worse, shut me down. Some people didn't want to get blocked in my drive so they drove on the lawn without asking.

Another cop came by 5 minutes later and repeated the advice about parking. They were very nice about it but I didn't want it to seem like I was ignoring the hazard I was inadvertently creating. The police actually stopped by THREE times during the road race, and I was doing my best to tell people to move their cars, which of course doesn't help with tag sale attendance; I also made up signs about where to park at the bottom of my drive.

Things eased up after the road race was over. The weather today is sticky hot, very uncomfortable humidity, but we had a steady stream of traffic up until mid day, and then it really died down.

People are ridiculous. My friend was asked how much something was, and she said "$2." The person put the item down and walked off. I mean, how cheap do they want it??

An Indian guy saw a large copper wash tub I had and snatched it up and kept walking around with it. When he went to pay me, he was under the impression it was .50 when it was actually priced at $50. He actually thought it was just .50!

Actually, I sold that wash tub to my friend's husband when he came to help my friend pack up at day's end. It was my biggest sale of the day!

I also sold an antique auger ($25) and rolling pin ($5), a hardcover book ($5), a charcoal grill ($5) I'd previously had trouble GIVING away, 3 large Tupperware containers for .50 each, thumb tacks (.50) a pair of wine glasses ($1) and a whole bunch of little stuff for exactly .50. Two old birdhouses sold for $1 a piece. Some plastic combs for .50. Two muffin trays for $3 and $4 each which I won't use anymore becus they're aluminum (same goes for the plastic Tupperware). A vinyl laptop bag went for $5 to a woman who seemed to want to use it as a handbag. Two old matted photos of sunflowers by my sister went for $3 each. There was nothing really special about them.

I met a few of my neighbors in town, which is always nice, and I met a few creepy groups of people who made me nervous. There was one family with kids and the wife asked me if her daughter could use my bathroom. I was very uncomfortable with that idea and as an excuse I said i had to be there with all the people walking around. As I glanced around the garage, all the people had left, but my friend was sitting there, and the woman saw that, hoping I would then relent. I still said no, feeling a little guilty, but later my friend said I'd done the right thing and she thought they were trying to scope out my house or something becus the husband had said 3 x that his daughter had to use the bathroom.

Another woman wanted to know if I'd take a check. Umm, I don't think so.

I'm satisfied. I wanted to make money, but my secondary goal was getting rid of stuff I really don't want.

My friend had mostly a lot of cutesy signs given to her during her teaching career, a bunch of old pillows, a whole lot of porcelain dishes and a rocking horse. She only made about $25.

She said she wants to have another sale end of September, so I might pack up the best of my leftovers and bring them there again. Other stuff I think I'll bring to the dump or recycle.